THE 919 TRANSALP PROJECT . . . or "The Tigress"

Hey Ken,
how would you compare the size and fit of the 919 to your Bandit? I love my Bandit but it is too cramped with wifey on the back.

looks amazing, almost like it was touring style bike from the factory

Yeah, same here - I can't even get her to ride with me on this bike. I think you would need an aftermarket seat or at least a cushion to go touring two-up on either bike.

UPDATE:

I put the Tigress through a bit of a road test - 4,000 miles worth. I started off with a BB1500 and touched 19 states in 13 days.



RIDE REPORT

I learned a few things. The bike's performance was absolutely flawless. The CB900F has a huge power band - plenty of grunt in any gear - more than I'll ever need. My minor suspension mods proved comfortable enough on long distance runs. The ergos need work: The bars need to go up another inch so I'll be ordering motionpro cables. The peg placement is a tad high on the 919 which wouldn't have been a problem if I'd had time to build the engine guards and added some highway pegs. My old knees were sufferin' the last few days on the road. The lack of the guards precluded much off road testing. I will say this smooth nimble tourer became a heavy beast in a hurry on fresh 1.5" limestone aggregate. :eek1

Most importantly, I have some decision making to do regarding tires. The Dunlpp D616 is a fantastic pavement tire - superb in the wet. However, I have already gone through 2 rears. The most I can expect is around 4500 miles a whack. The front tire pressure can make the bike pretty twitchy at high speed in high wind. Dropping a couple psi made a huge improvement in stability. Front tire tread is virtually unscathed @ 9k. The D616 will never inspire confidence, in me at least, off road. I'm not ready for the new fatboy TKC80 - especially @ $250 a copy. I don't expect to ever do more than 20% off road with this machine. I could throw in the towel and go back to the Storm St or Pilot Road and be happy. Or I can keep feeding this beast D616 rubber at least while looking for wheels suitable for a set of Anakee's, etc. Conclusion: I will need 2 sets of tires and wheels.



So it's a work in progress but she's an absolute blast to ride. Stay tuned.

For tires have you tried searching your size on http://www.chaparral-racing.com/? I'm looking at a Suzuki SV650-ADV conversion and they have decent prices on 17" dual-sport tires. I'm thinking about going for the TKC front and Full Bore rear. Just a thought. I like what you've done and am interested to see how you fabricate a skid plate and crash bars for it!

The Full Bore tires look a lot like Shinko's. Anybody know if they are the same?

Full Bore:



Shinko:

They come from the same factory. Fact.

Think the manufacturer has changed the name because of the poor shinko reputation.

Yep, thanks though. Hopefully someday somebody will offer a tire like that in a 180/55/17 to span my 6" wide wheel.

You have my attention on this.
Subscribed.

Cool. About 5 minutes ago I pulled the trigger on a set of +3" motionpro.com cables and some 30mm bar risers. I'll get back to work on it asap. If I can just tweak the bar and peg ergos a bit, this thing will be a fantastic adv-touring machine.

. . . . then maybe I'll totally fill the windscreen with these.

Looking good.

Nice Project

I knew there was a reason I bought the 919.

Just so you know,TKC just came out with sportbike sizes !!!.


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Yeah, someday maybe. I'm thinkin' this bike will see much more touring than serious dirt work so the TKC80 is probably more tire than I need. I just mounted rear D616 #3 today. #1 barely hit the 4,000 mile mark but #2 lasted 5,400 so I feel a little better about them. The Tusk 30mm bar risers and MotionPro +3" cables are in. I'll try to get started on the engine guards this week. Here's hoping.

It's been way too long but I took a little man cave time. I decided to quit procrastinating and install the custom +3" motionpro cables I bought almost a year ago. I had been deterred - alright mortified by the horror stories about swearing and throwing things and 14" long 90 degree needle nose pliers I'd read on the subject over on the 919 forum.


It took less than a minute to come to the realization the needle nose method was not for me and that Honda had gone to great lengths to make this modern bike look naked. I broke out the manual and followed along. The air box and throttle bodies had to come out the left side of the bike as a unit and then separated. Once I resigned myself to go ahead and unplug everything - injectors, fuel rail, etc. the job went smoothly. The cable ends attached surprisingly easily.


I used a tire tool between air box and frame to finesse the boots back onto the intake spigots.


With the new-found adjustment I needed, I tweaked the bars slightly to offer a bit more sweep. I also installed 1" risers. Now to tidy up all the rig jobs around the bars. (left) The bar-mount hardware that came with my windshield was frikkin ugly and had to go. (center) The stylish black anodized Moose Racing hand guard brackets came with a nice slot. Hummm, I thought. (right) I "MacGyvered" 3/8" shaft collars with studs to replace the set screws to hold the windshield rods. It is now lighter and cleaner looking.


I also made new extensions for the hand guards out of 1" x 1/4" aluminum.




There's still more to do before a proper test ride but the grip position seems greatly improved.

. . . . . and man cave time is always a good thing.

if you ride it on street pretty much all the time id just put street tyres on it

Agreed. I had almost given up . . . . . . almost . . . .





http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=850805

. . . . but I didn't.

I managed to try out the slightly gnarlier tread and stand on the pegs a bit out on the north forty today.



In mostly grass and leaves, the front tire seemed more stable (better than expected) and didn't try to plow at the first chance. The rear seemed to require a bit more effort to break loose - the tiniest bit - na, I'm dreaming - this bike is a beast. Maybe I can get some highway seat time on the bike Saturday.

Beautiful build, where are the updates???

Thanks. The most substantial update I've done is the odometer which is now at 48k. Somewhere the focus changed form a potential 80/20 machine to a mile eater.


http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=948518

http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=790395


My latest mod was a makeshift chain oiler to save time by spraying on the fly. So far so good. http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1013944

Currently I just put the finishing touches on a heated grip and bar muff mod so I won't have to fuss with heated glove liners on four minute iron butt fuel stops. I'll have some pics up in a day or two.

I still absolutely love the bike. It's nimble with ample power for my needs and it has been trouble free too.